1. Technical Field
The invention relates to saddlery and particularly to a saddle cinch having a buckle which permits easy adjustment of the cinch about the body of a horse to secure the saddle thereon.
2. Background Information
Most saddles are secured on a horse by means of a cinch or girth strap which is connected to both sides of the saddle and passes beneath the body of the horse. One side of the cinch is permanently or removably connected to one side of the saddle by a flexible strap with the other side being constructed to be removably attached to the saddle to enable the cinch to be placed about the body of the horse and then tightened. When the cinch strap is first tightened about the horses body, the horse will bloat in an attempt to resist the pressure of the tightened strap. This requires the cinch and connecting strap to be readjusted and tightened several times until the proper tension is reached on the cinch and connecting straps.
One type of cinch has a buckle on one end about which a strap is looped one or more times through the buckle and through an opening in the saddle such as provided by a D-ring, before securing the strap in an adjusted position by either a tongue on the buckle or by looping the strap about itself before being terminated in a locking loop. In those cinches having a buckle through which the strap makes several loops, it requires considerable pulling pressure by the horseman in order to tighten the cinch about the horse due to the leather strap being lopped upon itself resulting in a leather-to-leather sliding contact with the resultant large friction force occurring therebetween.
Therefore, the need exists for an improved cinch, and in particular a tightening and securement buckle therefore, which requires less force on the part of the horseman when tightening the cinch about the body of the horse to secure the saddle thereon.
The present invention provides a cinch and in particular a buckle therefore, for securing the saddle onto the body of the horse.
The cinch buckle of the invention comprises a rigid frame preferably having a trapezoidal configuration with a base bar, an intermediate bar and an outer end bar extending between a pair of sloped side frame members providing two strap receiving apertures therein for looping a tightening strap therethrough.
The cinch buckle of the invention further has a pair of rollers rotatably mounted on two of the buckle frame bars to reduce the sliding friction as the strap is looped and tightened about the intermediate and outer bars of the buckle.
Another aspect of the invention enables a locking tongue to be secured to the buckle by extending through a hole formed in the free end of the tightening strap to positively lock the strap in an adjusted position in the buckle.
Another feature of the invention is providing the cinch with a protective pad which extends beyond a pair of end buckles on the cinch to protect the horse""s belly from contact with the metal buckles.
Still another feature of the invention is providing a method of easily tightening a cinch about the body of a horse to secure the saddle thereon by providing rolling friction instead of the heretofore leather-to-leather sliding friction as the cinch strap is tightened.
The foregoing advantages, construction and operation of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.